September 20, 2009 -- Washington Post
(DC)

The Day the SWAT Team Came Crashing Through
My Door

By Cheye M. Calvo, Mayor of Berwyn Heights,
MD

I remember
thinking, as I kneeled at gunpoint with my hands bound on my
living room floor, that there had been a terrible, terrible mistake.

An errant Prince George's County SWAT team
had just forced its way into our home, shot dead our two black
Labradors, Payton and Chase, and started ransacking our belongings
as part of what would become a four-hour ordeal.

The police found nothing, of course, to
connect my family and me to a box of drugs that they had been
tracking and had delivered to our front door. The community --
of which I am mayor -- rallied to our side. A FedEx driver and
accomplice were arrested in a drug trafficking scheme. Ultimately,
we were cleared of any wrongdoing, but not before the incident
drew international outrage.

This was 14 months ago. We have since filed
suit, and I am confident that we will find justice more quickly
than most.

Yet, I remain captured by the broader implications
of the incident. Namely, that my initial take was wrong: It was
no accident but rather business as usual that brought the police
to -- and through -- our front door.

In the words of Prince George's County
Sheriff Michael Jackson, whose deputies carried out the assault,
"the guys did what they were supposed to do" -- acknowledging,
almost as an afterthought, that terrorizing innocent citizens
in Prince George's is standard fare. The only difference this
time seems to be that the victim was a clean-cut white mayor
with community support, resources and a story to tell the media.

What confounds me is the unmitigated refusal
of county leaders to challenge law enforcement and to demand
better -- as if civil rights are somehow rendered secondary by
the war on drugs.

Let me give you three specific concerns
underscored by our case.

First, the Prince George's Police Department's
internal affairs division is broken. When the Justice Department
released the county police from federal supervision in February,
the internal affairs function was the one area that was not cleared.
Internal affairs division (IAD) investigations were required
to take no longer than 90 days. More than a year after our ordeal,
my family awaits the IAD report on what happened at our home.
The statute of limitations for officer misconduct is 12 months,
which means that any wrongdoers are off the hook.

Next, there is significant evidence that
the county is broadly violating the Fourth Amendment, which protects
against unreasonable search and seizure. After initially claiming
a "no-knock" warrant to forcibly enter our home, county
police acknowledged that they did not have one. But they went
on to contend that there is no such thing as a "no-knock"
warrant in Maryland. But this isn't true. A statewide "no-knock"
warrant statute was passed in 2005. Effectively, the county is
denying the existence of state law. We can't get the county to
say whether it has ever followed the law or, at a minimum, even
acknowledges it.

Finally, and perhaps most disturbing of
all, county police may be lying to cover up their civil rights
violations. A county officer on the scene told Berwyn Heights
police a fabricated tale to justify the warrantless entry of
our home. The lie disappeared after they learned that I was the
mayor. Charges of a police coverup are hardly unusual, but there
is significant evidence that county law enforcement engaged in
a conspiracy on our lawn to justify an illegal entry. Nothing
strikes at the heart of police credibility like creative report
writing and false testimony to cover up a lie or even put innocent
people behind bars. Swift and serious consequences are the best
deterrent.

In fairness, some good has come from the
incident. State leaders have passed legislation that will provide
statewide oversight of SWAT teams -- a first-in-the-nation law
that will shine a light on the troubling trend of paramilitary
policing.

Yet, the wagons have circled in Upper Marlboro.
The response is textbook: Law enforcement stands its ground and
concedes no wrongdoing -- and elected officials burrow their
heads in the sand.

As an imperfect elected official myself,
I can understand a mistake -- even a terrible one. But a pattern
and practice of police abuse treated with utter indifference
rips at the fabric of our social compact and virtually guarantees
more of the same.